What Comes Next For Central American Caravan?

Children have their breakfast at the “Vina de Tijuana AC” migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Saturday, April 28, 2018. As the migrants prepare to walk to the “Casa del Tunel” to get legal advice from U.S. immigration lawyers, they are telling Central Americans in a caravan of asylum-seekers they may be separated from their children and detained for many months. (AP Photo/Hans-Maximo Musielik)

The caravan of Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States sought the world’s attention as scores of migrants traveled through Mexico on a journey to escape their violent homelands. Now that the group has arrived at the border, the next steps in their journey will unfold mostly out of public view.

The caravan first drew attention in the U.S. when President Donald Trump promised that his administration would seek to turn the families away. The rest of the asylum-seeking process will happen slowly and secretively in immigration courts. Dan Kowalski, editor of Bender’s Immigration Bulletin, said the public will “probably see very little (of the caravan cases) unless the applicant is represented and the attorney makes an effort to bring the client into the limelight.”

A total of 28 caravan members were accepted for processing Monday and Tuesday by U.S. border inspectors at San Diego’s San Ysidro crossing, an official with U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. The crossing, the nation’s busiest, processed about 50 asylum seekers a day from October through February, suggesting the wait will be short.